Nicolae Ceaușescu

Harvey Morris remembers his trip to Romania in the wake of the execution of dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu. After covering the story for The Independent, he was free to visit Târgoviște, the real home of Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia, also known as Dracula. By coincidence, he found that this was also the site of the capture, trail, and execution of Ceaușescu, stumbling on a great scoop.

Julian Nundy describes joining the Independent on Sunday in 1989, and how writing the dummy issues for six weeks before the paper’s launch engendered a sense of freedom, even irreverence, and established it as a true reporters’ paper.